First SOI Meeting

For the first meeting I was regrettably late by a few minutes. I didn't miss much and I had several ideas that I feel helped. This meeting was mostly brainstorming but we seem to be branching out from the school and onto main street with our ideas. Jade set up a blog for SOI to use and brainstorm out of meetings. I have yet to use it yet, but I have talked with some members about possible ideas. This thursday we have another meeting. We will hopefully be able to narrow down what we want to do.

Stage - First Rehearsals

At STAGE we started rehearsals off with a total read through of the script. At first glance my character is little more than a joker, and while he is very flat it is a different role for me which is good. In the play I work very close with another character named Danny, who was originally played by Daniel Verbank. Unfortunately Daniel left the school and his character was replaced with Evan Griffin. Evan and I are friends which makes our chemistry on stage make our characters seem that much more believable. I also have begun to get somewhat close to the two freshman girls who play Pat and Sylvia, who are two girls that Danny and Steve flirt with throughout the play. All of the cast that my character interacts with are people who I know which makes working with them much easier. I have been noticing my strengths as an actor in this role as well as several weaknesses. Hopefully by next rehearsal I will be able to pinpoint them by next week.

Tai Chi - Private lesson

At Tai Chi I ended up having a private lesson because none of the other students showed up. I was allowed to work full the first third of the form that we are working on. I worked well with the instructor, and I discovered that with one small tweak that I had the entire first third memorized even with my month absence. This made me extremely happy and I could tell the Maureen the instructor was surprised and proud. My goal of getting to the same place that the class is was set very high, but I feel very accomplished that I was able to reach it in such a short time, and I had reassuring proof that through hard work and perseverance that I could reach new heights even if I am behind.

Nursing Home Concerts - First Show!

I finally had my first show at Atria Woodbriar Healthcare. I was nervous at first, but I quickly got over these worries once I started. The residents were all very happy to have me. Many of them sang along with several of the songs. After my show most of the residents came up to me and said that I did a wonderful job and several asked me if I had a business card. Those congratulations reminded me that music bring joy back to people who are in seemingly endless cycles of life.

Also my contacts with Heratige have been going well, but we have yet to set a date.

Tai Chi - Return after 1 month absence

After one month I finally returned to Tai Chi. I was extremely happy to be back as some of the muscle tension I have been feeling over the past few weeks will hopefully go away soon with my return. As it turns out despite my absence the rest of the class has been flying through the rest of the third form. Because of this I was very open to what people had to say in order to perform that part of the form easier. After only three times I had it almost perfect. If it hadn't been for everyone helping me it would have taken much longer. This made me feel immediately comfortable with the rest of the students despite their advancements over me.

Nursing Home Concerts - More Troubles but New Successes

After sending out letters to three nursing homes in the Falmouth Area I got two call backs on Tuesday the 4th of August. Atria Healthcare asked me to come in the next day to do a short 45 minute concert for their resident's ice cream social. Happily I agreed. When I got to Atria I met with Karen, the Activities co-ordinator for Atria, and she gave me a quick run down of where I would be performing and what time I should start. I set up my speakers and Ipod where she wanted me to, but the system wasn't turning on. Frantically I scrambled to two other outlets, but the system still wouldn't turn on. After a little frustration I talked to Karen. She was supportive and called the home's technician in. He was also baffled as to what the problem was since all three of the outlets I used were working. Then we realized that the power chord of my system was broken even though it had worked perfectly the night before. I informed Karen of this and we decided to scrap this concert, but schedule another once I got a new power chord. Karen told me to introduce myself to the residents and tell them a little about myself. As I did this they seemed genuinely happy that even though I didn't do anything that I eventually I was going to perform for them. They were also very supportive of me and thanked me fore taking the time to try and perform for them.

The next day I had a meeting with Christine Davidson, The activities director for Heritage at Falmouth. During the meeting I reiterated to her what I was planning to do and how I was going to accomplish it. She seemed very gung-ho about it, and asked when would I be able to start the concerts. I told her my schedule and explained that I was waiting on a new power chord that I had ordered the night before. She then gave me her business card and told me to send her an email when i got the chord. She also asked for me to send a short bio of myself so that she could advertise the concerts to the residents. That night I put together the bio and sent it to her. Both of these activities were valuable to me because I learned that sometimes checking your equipment is not a fool-proof way to know that it will work on the day of you performance. I also learned that sometimes you need to make sure you have you credentials all ready to present.

Nursing Home Concerts - Troubles from the Get-go

After returning home from Germany I decided to get started on my CAS again. I called up Sun Bridge Healthcare (formerly Harborside) in Mashpee where I had submitted a letter explaining what I wanted to do for the seniors. After being sent to Karen I was met with a response that I wasn't expecting. Karen had been so many applicants that apparently she never even read my letter. Before I could even explain that I wasn't just another volunteer and that I had a specific and different activity to run I was told to call back in September and the conversation ended. I was slightly angry that not only had she not read my letter, which I had submitted a month before, but also that I wasn't able to set the record straight. After these feelings passed I realized that I needed to be more aggressive in planning my activities in order to get them started. Even though I didn't put on any concerts so far, it taught me the importance of persistence. I am going to try my hand at several other Nursing homes on Cape Cod.

On another note, I was able to create a burned CD of karaoke versions of top "oldies" songs that will help me immensely during the concerts.